1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to machines used in the nursery industry for taking seedlings extracted from a first seedling tray or "plug tray" and transplanting them into yet another second growing tray generally having a greater area of separation between the newly transplanted seedlings than the first plug tray from which they were extracted in order to encourage continued unimpeded growth of each individual seedling.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the nursery industry, plants are initially germinated and grown in trays having an array of small compartments within the tray. These small compartments are sufficient to accommodate the plant in the early stages of its development from a single seed into a small seedling while economically making use of the limited space available within a greenhouse or other nursery building. Once the seedlings have germinated and have approached the maximum size desirable while remaining in the small germination compartments, each seedling must be transplanted to a larger tray or pot for further growth and eventual outdoor planting or commercial sale.
The roots of the seedlings will typically form a compact ball with the soil contained within the tray compartments, which allows the seedling and the associated soil to be transplanted as a unit (the seedling "plug"). In the past, seedlings have been transplanted by hand into pots or other trays with larger compartments that have been pre-filled with soil. Hand transplanting allows seedlings to be easily transplanted from seedling arrays of any configuration to single pots or, more commonly, arrays of pots contained within a unitizing flat. However, the high cost of labor and the seasonal nature of such transplanting work has made this method undesirable.
Automatic transplanters are known which utilize specially fabricated seedling flats which permit the seedlings to be pressed through the base of a germination compartment into a pot located below. Other known transplanters use cam-driven rotating pairs of plate-like fingers to extract the seedlings, or utilize pre-bent metallic wire fingers which are retained in a straight configuration and injected into the soil surrounding the seedling. These known devices move the germinating tray on an indexable table with respect to the transplanting head of the apparatus.
What is needed is an apparatus of sturdy construction which may readily accommodate germinating trays of varying compartmental array dimensions, and which will rapidly transplant seedlings to larger trays of other compartmental array configurations. The present invention relates to apparatuses and methods of transplanting young plants from seedling trays to larger trays.
In the art to which the invention relates, complicated systems have been developed to transplant plants from a seedling plug tray, where they have initially germinated, to a larger flat tray where they will have more room to grow. These systems have been unduly complicated, and have sometimes injured the seedlings. In the case of a begonia seedling for example, begonia leaves are broad and grow close to the surface of the soil from which the primary stem extends. The prior systems and machines have been known to damage these types of plants (e.g., begonias) when the seedling is extracted from the tray in which it germinates originally.
It would be desirable to develop a plant transplant apparatus and method which can quickly and accurately transplant plants from a seedling tray to a larger tray. Further, it would be desirable to develop such an apparatus and method which can transplant the plants without damaging the seedlings, and have it adaptable to various sizes and types of trays and plants.